More or less ?

Tory Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt is still talking tough over Radio 1 and Radio 2 in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph - and he's not yet convinced yet that Mark Thompson is actually cutting things.

"I want to see what changes the BBC actually makes before I say the matter is closed. Mark Thompson said he wanted the BBC to do fewer things better, but the BBC isn't any smaller. I would like to understand the logic when it comes to niche programmes that it's okay to have Radio 3 but not 6 Music."

On Radio 1 and 2, Hunt argues they're both too much like commercial competitors, and should be more distinctive. And here's the dilemma for the BBC, as RAJAR listening diaries for the first quarter of the year close. Someone inside the organisation has clearly cheered up Chris Evans with suggestions that his first full set of audience figures might actually beat Terry Wogan's extraordinary record; a record that is key to the station's 17 per cent share of the audience. On the other hand, the BBC Trust (and a few strategists) think that engineering a graceful decline might be a better tactic. Controller Bob Shennan is under orders to deliver 50% speech/50% music in daytime - a mix that very few UK stations (cf GLR,GMR) have ever made work. The next RAJAR figures are made public on Thursday 13th May.